How long does Citalopram take to work?

I've been prescribed Citalopram 20mg and have been taking it for 3 days now. I don't quite know how this works, but it's making me very anxious, gives me a dry mouth and fatigue. Is It to soon to see any changes? Should a give it a week or two?

164 Replies

20mg is about 4 times what I take. 5mg simply levels me off. My son takes 20mg, but the Dr. told us kids need more than adults. It could be you are taking too big of a dose? When I used to take 10mg a day, my hands would sweat and sexual function was inhibited But since I dropped to 5mg a few years ago, the side effects went away and now everything works great! .

I think you may want to tell your Doc what you are experiencing - he/she may want to tweak your dosage.

3 days is far to soon to see any results. What you are describing is side effects which I know is horrible, most people on this forum say about 4 weeks to see results. Did your doctor tell you about the side effects, mine didn't and I got more anxious which really worried me that is why I joined this forum and every body seems to suffer the same, I am worse in the mornings, keep going and stay positive which I know isn't easy. Keep posting to let us know how you are getting on, everyone is so supportive.

I am taking 20 mg per day and started 6 days ago and am still feeling queasy and quite nervous anxious feeling and tired... This is my second medicine I've tried... I'm so worried this will not work either... Any suggestions ?

Hey! I'm on 10ml to and how long should I wait beforenin see results I just took it for the first time last night and I was wondering how long would it take for me to see progress and do I need to move to a biger ml?

I have been on celexa for 3 days and I am having the same symptoms but I agree let's stick with it I take 20mg 10mg for one week until the medicine gets in my system that I can switch to the 20mg that I'm having the same symptoms that your having the anxiety getting worse but we gotta stick with it and don't give up

Hi. I've been taking 20mg for 3 weeks today and my anxiety is worse than when I started. Reading that others feel the same makes it bearable. I sometimes feel.it will.never get better and my life will be consumed by anxiety. It's exhausting at times.

Hi. I'm doing so much better. 3 weeks I would say was the worst. By week 5 I think I was ready to increase my dose. Now I'm on 30mg and I'm so much better. Even when I have a blip I can cope with it and rationalise it so much more. If you can keep busy and do whatever you enjoy or that distracts you even if you have to be a bit selfish do it to get you through these early weeks.

Ok thank you so much, I was wondering if I would need an increased dosage due to being so overwhelmed. I'll definitely stick with it then and see how I get on. Trying to lay low and be a bit selfish however I have 3 children plus a few outside factors (work, family etc) are really not helping with the stress!!

So glad to hear you are doing well, really looking forward to these kicking in and being able to rationalise it all. Thinking of starting yoga as well to try and calm my mind as well.

It's hard but unless you give yourself the time to feel well.it will take longer. Sam's day I went to be in the afternoon it was too much. My family understood. I slept for around 3 hours and then felt ok. I still had no appetite but I was able to laugh and play games with them all. You will level out and then can incr3ase your dose. When I went from 20 to 30 I didn't suffer extreme side effects. Just a bit of a headache and tiredness but no increase in anxiety. Stay in touch with your Dr. Also try writing everything down good and bad. It sometimes helps to look back as we can easily forget the good times. You will also realise that you worked through the bad times. Good luck. Please stay in touch x

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